Billy Harper (tenor sax); Donald Harrison (alto sax); Eddie Henderson (trumpet); David Weiss (trumpet); George Cables (piano); Cecil McBee (double bass); Billy Hart (drums)
The Cookers were in the home straight, the third and final day of a residency at Keystone Korner in Baltimore. Three of six concert performances were streamed across the globe, this 5:00pm (EST) set the last opportunity to logon. The all-star seven piece ensemble has shared a stage with just about every significant name of the last half century, their collective - as yet 'not out' - innings on Planet Earth totaling in excess of five hundred years!
The set comprised of compositions almost exclusively from within the band, the line-up largely that which twice appeared at Sage Gateshead (Jaleel Shaw depping for Donald Harrison, Danny Grissett on one occasion for George Cables). MC David Weiss made the introductions, the man himself no mean trumpet player. Billy Harper's The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart pulsated with George Cables' McCoy Tyner-like voicings, aided and abetted by Billy Hart's nod to Elvin Jones in the very same legendary Coltrane outfit. Harper's Croquet Ballet, as played on Tyneside, verged on hard bop territory, although somewhat refined. McBee's Close to You Alone featured alto saxophonist Donald Harrison in a show-stealing performance, his extended coda a thing of beauty. To close out the set, Freddie Hubbard's The Core (a Jazz Messengers' chart circa '65), Harper taking on Wayne Shorter's tenor sax part and featuring the eighty years young drum master Billy Hart. Russell
Set list: The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart (comp. Billy Harper); Peacemaker (Cecil McBee); Croquet Ballet (comp. Billy Harper); Close to You Alone (comp. Cecil McBee); The Core (comp. Freddie Hubbard).
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